First, an introduction: 80-20 (aka Pareto), I'd like you to meet 99-1.

A must read article and follow-up from the Church of the Customer Blog on "The 1% Rule." Using ad-hoc research and quotes from good sources, they chart citizen participation and the value of the small yet very influential group of people driving communities and content creation online.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking of how advertisers can use social networks and consumer generated media to engage in a meaningful and profitable dialogue with the 1% and find new pathways to the other 99%. More to come ...

Comscore/Media Metrix says that Wikipedia was the 18th most popular destination website on the web in March 2006, with some 25 million visitors that month alone. But the number of people who actually contribute content to Wikipedia is about 1-2 percent of total site visitors.

Quoted: It would appear that small groups of people often turn out to be the principal value creators of a democratized community. Over time, their work fuels widespread interaction that engages the non-participating community and attracts new ones. If continually nurtured, the community can become a self-sustaining generator of content and value.Quoted: The overriding lesson: Avoid marginalizing the 1 Percenters as statistically insignificant, unrepresentative of the total audience or simply the lunatic fringe. If anything, the 1 Percenters may represent the leading indicators of how well your brand is being adopted, synthesized and vocalized.